Month: December 2020

Drug traffickers in Southeast Asia are among a select group of workers unworried about job losses, with the illicit trade booming even as the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted supply chains worldwide.“Drug trafficking has continued at high volumes in Southeast Asia despite Covid-19, particularly in the lower Mekong, where methamphetamine production has surged and prices per kilo and on the street have dropped again,” said Jeremy Douglas, regional United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime…

Japan has drawn up an action plan to achieve its goal of boosting farm exports to 2 trillion yen (US$19 billion) by 2025, aiming to make products such as “Wagyu” beef and sake more competitive in the global market.The action plan designates 27 key agricultural, fishery and forestry items, also including apples and other fruit as well as seafood such as yellowtail and scallops, and sets export targets to be achieved by that year.It identifies specific markets where demand for the key items is…

Thailand on Saturday said it had identified two new coronavirus clusters that appear to be linked to a major outbreak discovered a week earlier among migrant workers in a seafood centre near Bangkok.The new cases were found in 19 members of a motorcycling club who held a holiday gathering on Lanta island in the southern province of Krabi, and in nine people who were in a gambling den in the eastern province of Rayong, said the Disease Control Department.Thailand mulls lockdown as Covid-19 surge…

It may be the thought that counts, but still thousands of New Zealanders on Saturday hoped one person’s underwhelming Christmas gift would be another’s bargain find.By 8am on Boxing Day, more than 4,400 presents that had apparently missed the mark had been listed on the Trade Me website, including a Mazda car in the “wrong colour” and a pair of Apple Airpods Pro from a parent whose daughter preferred to have just the regular version.“Failed Christmas gift! Box opened, but not even put in ears,”…

Thailand on Saturday confirmed 110 new coronavirus infections, of which 64 were local infections, connected to an outbreak in a seafood centre in the southwest province of Samut Sakhon.More than 1,500 infections have been linked to the seafood centre outbreak since last week, the majority of those migrant workers from Myanmar, making it the country’s coronavirus worst outbreak yet.Of the new infections, 30 were among migrant workers and 16 were imported cases, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman…

South Korea plans to discuss whether it needs to further tighten distancing rules this weekend as the current curbs failed to reverse a resurgence in outbreaks, with the daily coronavirus count hitting another high on Friday, officials said.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,241 new coronavirus cases as of midnight on Thursday, the highest daily count recorded.Daily numbers have been hovering at record levels over the past few weeks, around 1,000, but the…

Melody de Guzman, a 45-year-old domestic worker in Hong Kong, had to twice cancel her plans to go to the Philippines this year. She could not fly in April to see her son’s graduation. Now, she won’t be able to spend Christmas with her family.“I am under more pressure,” said the migrant worker, who has lived in Hong Kong since 2013. “I have a big family and before my sisters could buy my mum’s medicines, but now they totally depend on me. It’s very hard to earn any money in the Philippines at…

Businesses will welcome the certainty provided by news of a new trade agreement being reached between the UK and EU at a time when they face other challenges, such as those associated with the impact of the coronavirus crisis, according to legal experts.

Financial institutions including banks, asset managers, insurance companies and pension trustees, will be subject to enhanced climate-related disclosure obligations in Hong Kong, regulators have announced.

Facebook has banned Australian celebrity chef and conspiracy theorist Pete Evans for repeatedly spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.With more than 1 million social media followers, Evans had been an influential promoter of conspiracy theories about the pandemic and vaccines.Facebook said on Thursday it would not “allow anyone to share misinformation about Covid-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm” or falsehoods about Covid-19 vaccines.“We have clear policies against this…